You would think that skydiving would be extreme enough on its own – but you’re wrong. Many people have felt the need to think up a sport that’s even more extreme than regular skydiving. The result is called “swooping”. Essentially, swoopers start out with a regular skydive, but go a bit faster than they would ordinarily.
The result is somewhat spectacular, and needs to be timed just right. The point of swooping, after all, is not just to parachute down from a plane and make a good landing. Instead, you want to swoop over the ground gracefully. Often, this is done over a lake or other body of water.
Pond swooping
For this reason, the sport of swooping is also sometimes called pond swooping. When pond swooping, the point is to attempt to drag one or both feet in the water for as long as is possible without landing entirely. However, in places that do not have large bodies of water, this is not the way that swooping is done. Instead, people attempt to swoop over the land. In some places, skydivers swoop over corn fields, and drag their feet in the corn, instead of in water.
The two things that most people who are into swooping try for is a higher speed when they near the ground, and going further in their swoops. However, one thing that all people who swoop have in common is a lot of experience skydiving.
Only for experienced skydivers
Therefore, if you would like to get into swooping, you should start with regular skydiving first. That way, you’ll learn all of the important techniques that you need to know. If you are already an experienced skydiver, then you should think about swooping for a challenge.
Swooping in your area
If you’re interested in swooping, you should try to see if there is a group of people who swoop in your area. A good place to check first for people who are into swooping would be any local skydiving clubs or associations. Make sure that you get proper training before you try any new type of skydiving, however. It can be very dangerous if you do not know what you are doing – and broken legs have been known to happen among people who are new to swooping.